How do you choose the best website images? Your website images are more important than you realise and can positively or negatively affect website conversion rates and your number of enquiries. To ensure your website images work for you rather than against you, you need to hear this!
Why are website images important?
Website images are important because they play a crucial role in the overall aesthetics of your website and can increase engagement. But website images go beyond aesthetics by stirring emotion and connection among website visitors, even if they don’t consciously realise it. Images can also be great for your website’s SEO performance.
Should I use stock images or bespoke images?
You can use stock images or bespoke images for your website. However, when you use stock images they should be strategically chosen and positioned. There are some instances when stock images should never be used, such as on staff profile images. Using stock images instead of real images of your staff can make leads question the legitimacy of your business and reduce conversion rates.
Choose people over objects
Most of your images should include people rather than inanimate objects. By using people instead of objects, you allow the website user to see themselves as users of your product or service. For example, using an image of someone meeting a financial adviser in their office will conjure images of themselves going to meet your advisers to discuss a mortgage or pension product. This method of getting the user to resonate with the images does not occur when you simply use an image of paperwork or a for sale sign.
Make sure your images embrace diversity
When you do use images of people on your website, it is important that the people in your images represent a wide variety of demographics and backgrounds. Using men, women, younger people, older people and people with different skin tones is essential. Not only does this show your brand as an accepting and progressive business available to all people, but it enables more of your website visitors to easily resonate with the people in the images.
A word on staff images
As already mentioned, you should be using real bespoke images of your staff on any ‘meet the team’ type pages. Don’t use images of your staff that they have taken themselves on their smartphone or from evenings out. Any serious financial services business should be using professional headshots unless this would clash with the existing brand.
One quirky alternative to the standard professional headshot is a caricature headshot of each staff member.
Website image services from WEBPRO Adviser
Our web designers offer extensive website image services. We can help you choose and implement the most effective stock images, edit your existing images, and we offer professional photography services to create bespoke website images and headshots.
